This invention relates, in general, to curettes for scraping and cutting of bodily tissue and relates, more particularly, to improved means for holding the working element of a curette during a scraping or cutting operation.
Curettes with which this invention is concerned are utilized in medical practice to scrape the surfaces of skin or body cavities in order to clean such surfaces, to remove skin lesions or foreign matter, or to obtain tissue or other materials for diagnostic purposes. Each of such curettes has a working element having a sharpened edge which, when moved in a scraping or cutting action across an area to be worked, removes the topmost layers of tissue. Of course, the extent of tissue removal by the working element is dependent upon the pressure applied to the area by the sharpened edge, the angle of the blade in relation to the tissue surface and the character of tissue involved. Commonly, the working element is of a loop or ring-type conformation and its sharpened edge is provided by a curved or circular working edge of the conformation.
Conventional curettes are limited in that any resharpening of the working element is difficult and time-consuming. Such difficulty is due, at least in part, to the fact that the working element of the curette is commonly constructed integrally with the handle of the device and the curved or circular working edge, because of its curvature, is difficult to align with a sharpening tool. Typically, a conventional curette must be sent to a professional for resharpening and because such action renders the curette unavailable for a time, the curette is likely to be used in a dulled condition throughout much of its life.
It is an object of the present invention to provide improved means for holding a working element, or blade, of a curette wherein the working element is easily removable for replacement or resharpening.
Another object of the present invention is to provide such means for holding the sharpened edge of a working element in an arcuate condition which facilitates a cutting or scraping operation.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an improved curette having a deformable blade which is held in a deformed or arcuate condition for use and which can be easily removed and flatened for ease of sharpening or, alternatively, can be discarded and replaced with a new, sharp blade.
Yet still another object of the present invention is to provide such a curette having a blade which is well-suited for making small, closed-path incisions.